So the social media world went crazy last night as Joffrey Lupul posted to his instagram account "I'm ready. just waiting for the call" under a picture of himself snowboarding....or someone snowboarding...it is implied that it's Lupul...
Then quite a few people, in the comments, were encouraging him and hoping he'd be back despite reports he had failed the NHL physical...to which Lupul added, "Haha. failed physical. They cheat, everyone lets them."
This was all then deleted by Lupul...but this is the internet s.o..well nothing is deleted once it is given birth.
Today the NHL came out and said they had no comment, yet, and would comment if they could in the future.. The Leafs have said nothing...the NHLPA has said nothing...
This obviously caught EVERYONE by surprise and now has caused quite the mad scramble...
And we really don't know what happened...
It very well COULD have been Lupul was just joking around to get a rise out of his followers. I have known Joffrey since he was in Philly and he is a funny guy...but also a VERY trustworthy guy. So I am not sure what we should surmise here. We do know the Leafs said he failed his physical last year and managed to bury his $5.25M salary...and last year I do believe he wasn't healthy...But this year?
Quite frankly, regardless of how this all plays itself out, I am shocked nothing like this has happened before... The whole LTIR/Injured thing is so easily gamed and nothing really is being done to check on these players...The way it works right now tends to be VERY trusting of the team doctors who do, after all, work for the team...and you can't tell me that EVERY NHL player is banged up enough 95% of the time to be deemed "unhealthy enough" to play. These guys are playing hurt constantly with injuries that would be keeping many of us out of our jobs and legitimately on workman's compensation.
So where to draw the line?
We need to find another way here...the NHL needs to have their own unbiased doctors play a bigger part in anyone missing serious time...It happens on occasion, but it needs to become more the law of the land and automatic...
What do you think?
Athanasiou deal close...
It really sounds like the Wings and Athanasiou will be settling on a deal in the next few days and he won't be playing in the KHL...however, once the deal is signed the bigger story begins...Will he get any ice-time? Athanasiou scores a ton per minute played...
We will discuss this and more on today's podcast at 1pm ET...today we will preview the Minnesota Wild.
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